Japanese

last SG · 2009-07-23T10:29:47+00:00

Ya la provided u have $.Cos they brought up in environments where items are so much much more costly than those in SG.Gd thing is that they can't be so huang...

dare82 SG

Hey, what do you think of Japanese people?

Besides being the rulers of the 30s and 40s in East Asia as cruel punishers of anti-Japanese people, AV Idols, Takuya Kimura, Nakata, Toyota and Taro Aso.

What else do you know of them?

You know, I still get shocked whenever I see or hear of any Japanese girl is of above 170cm height.

I would think they are either Korean or Chinese. I wouldn't believe they are Japanese.

You know, Japanese men are thought of to be male chauvinist pigs, even more chauvs than the Chinese men. So much that Japanese women very often have few rights at work. Women rights are still thought of to be one of the least among developed nations.

BadzMaro SG

Damn.. i wanna be the ultimate Jap man with my kimono wives.

dare82 SG

So you wanna treat her with cosplay r soap fetishes? Or bukkake?

Suffocate SG

Japanese women are hot.

Japanese people are very polite people which makes me wonder how come they are so brutal during world war 2

dare82 SG

Japanese women are hot.

Japanese people are very polite people which makes me wonder how come they are so brutal during world war 2

They are polite because they have realised their diminishing super power status since 1945.

I think this is likewise for UK and Germany. Do you notice that UK and German bosses are even nicer than the American ones? Or even the Singaporean bosses, as a fact?

UK used to be a superpower in the 19th century. So Brits used to feel very haughty and lofty about themselves.

Germans have been shamed for their ruthless but ignorant involvements in the 2 World Wars.

So maybe this explains why Japs, like the Germans and Brits, tend to be more polite.

Fantagf SG

hahhah, i just posted new japanese drama by Takuya Kimura. So coincident comes this topic.

Japanese men are chauvinistic, Korean men are much more worse than them.

Japanese are innovative.

Japanese men will not head straight home right after work. In fact, I find that the japanese people are some how suppressed.

Love japanese food. Like Takuya Kimura.

BadzMaro SG

They are polite because they have realised their diminishing super power status since 1945.

I think this is likewise for UK and Germany. Do you notice that UK and German bosses are even nicer than the American ones? Or even the Singaporean bosses, as a fact?

UK used to be a superpower in the 19th century. So Brits used to feel very haughty and lofty about themselves.

Germans have been shamed for their ruthless but ignorant involvements in the 2 World Wars.

So maybe this explains why Japs, like the Germans and Brits, tend to be more polite.

U serious.. lol! Explains why the Japs , Germans n Brits tend to be more polite cause they got an asswhopping during the wars ? xD

marcteng SG

where does japanese hang out in singapore one. in sg there is a jap radio station for jap living in sg. there are about 30,000 jap living and working in sg.

Suffocate SG

They are polite because they have realised their diminishing super power status since 1945.

I think this is likewise for UK and Germany. Do you notice that UK and German bosses are even nicer than the American ones? Or even the Singaporean bosses, as a fact?

UK used to be a superpower in the 19th century. So Brits used to feel very haughty and lofty about themselves.

Germans have been shamed for their ruthless but ignorant involvements in the 2 World Wars.

So maybe this explains why Japs, like the Germans and Brits, tend to be more polite.

Japan military power may have diminished but their economic status is like what the 2nd strongest in the world.

marcteng SG

Japan military power may have diminished but their economic status is like what the 2nd strongest in the world.

not for long. china is going to overtake them very soon and it is said that china is going to overtake USA as the no 1 in 20-30 years time. china is now the third country in terms of GDP growth in the world now.

Ah Chia SG

Japanese people are very polite people which makes me wonder how come they are so brutal during world war 2

As part of the campaign, Singapore was captured on February 15th, 1942, by the 25th army under the command of General Yamashita . His director of military operations, Tsuji Masanobu, made it his personal responsibility that a terrible pogrom was carried out against the local population. This operation was called Sook Ching (ethnic cleansing, purge through purification). Wildly varying numbers have been given about the death toll. They range from 6.000 (Japanese military figures) up to 70.000 (some contempary authors). The sad truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

http://sookching.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sook

This massacre is not played up in our country's history by PAP regime.

This is probabaly due to the fact that Lee Kuan Yew collaborated with the Japanese during WWII.

The Sook Ching Centre site memorial stands at Hong Lim Complex in Chinatown.

Memorial for those killed by the Japanese Imperial Army in Negeri Sembilan during the Japanese occupation.

caleb_chiang SG

Japan military power may have diminished but their economic status is like what the 2nd strongest in the world.

Ya... hardly affected by the global reccession as well...

Fantagf SG

Ya... hardly affected by the global reccession as well...

and the best thing is their govt are not paid the world's highest salary. hahahah!

dare82 SG

Japan military power may have diminished but their economic status is like what the 2nd strongest in the world.

If not for their defeat the war, they won't be polite as well because they once faced sheer shame at the defeat.

Suffocate SG

If not for their defeat the war, they won't be polite as well because they once faced sheer shame at the defeat.

They were defeated not because they are weak but because they overstreched themself attacking too many countries at 1 go so nothing to be ashamed of.

China such a big country was defeated by by the tiny Japan and also the Westerners. So talk about being ashamed it should be China that should be ashamed

Suffocate SG

GDP so high but government so corrupted also no use. End up all the money goes into the hands of the politicians and the country remains poor.

The richer the country is the more the leaders corrupt money. PAP government is 1 such example. When Singapore is poor their salary is average. When Singapore is rich their salary suddenly become the highest in the world. China will become the 2nd Singapore

Forbiddensinner SG

Japanese women are hot.

Japanese people are very polite people which makes me wonder how come they are so brutal during world war 2

The truth is that Japanese people have always been a polite group of people.

A lot of forummers here seems to have thought that they are being polite because of their loss in WWII, but that is partially correct at best.

Japan is a very traditional country, and mannerism is one of the things which is very important to them. Bad manners, especially against elderly, could result in very harsh punishments in the past. When I say harsh, I mean being tied up and flogged with whips and punishments along that line.

Well, that also shows how brutal they are in another way....

Dark Honour SG

japanese people are just another ethnic group to me

but according to some japanese people, they dont like this polite system....they tink it makes their cultural attitudes ultra fake

i just have a strange inkling that singapore is under a lot of japanese influence still (though some of my friends say shldnt be cuz of korean wave...)

Bangulzai SG

The truth is that Japanese people have always been a polite group of people.

A lot of forummers here seems to have thought that they are being polite because of their loss in WWII, but that is partially correct at best.

Well, that also shows how brutal they are in another way....

Forbiddensinner you are right. They had been always a polite group of people since their ancestors who were a polite group too. I bring out some relevant examples:

from "A History Of Writing in Japan"

(pg 26) The earliest known examples of a piece of writing in this hybrid style is to be found in a Gangouji Temple inscription dating from 596 (The original inscription itself is no longer extant, but the text has been preserved in the Gangouji enji - Records of Gangouji Temple of 1165. For the actual text, see Nishimiya, Nihon joudai no bunshou to hyouki, pp. 30-31.). In this text, Japanese linguistic influence can be seen in the sequence 諸手使作奉也 "had various craftsmen make it": the causative marker (represented by the third character) is preceded here by the agent (characters one and two), in accordance with Japanese syntax; Chinese style would require the causative marker to precede the agent. The positioning of the fifth character 奉 (in Chinesefeng "receive with both hands, serve; respectfully") constitutes another feature which is irregular in terms of Chinese style; it appears to be used here to represent a Japanese humble verbal auxiliary (cf. Chinese style, in which feng would be placed before - not after - the fourth character).

(pg 27) Probably the best-known early hybrid text is the inscription located on the reverse of the nimbus of the Yakushi nyorai image in the Golden Hall (Kondou) of Houryuuji Temple, Nara. The reason that this text is widely cited by Japanese scholars is no doubt because in proportion to its length it contains a large number of hybrid sequences. Unfortunately the exact date of the image and inscription is a subject of controversy, but the majority of scholars seem to regard them both as being of seventh century origin, and this view is provisionally followed here also. (Even if at some future date it were to be demonstrated that the Golden Hall Yakushi nyorai inscription is in fact of later date, this would be of no great consequence here, as the main purpose of taking up this text at this point is to illustrate the general features of the hybrid style.) The block script transliteration and translation of this text are as follows: 池邊大宮治天下天皇大御身勞賜時歲次丙午年召於大王天皇与太子而誓願賜我大御病太平欲坐故將造寺薬師像作仕奉詔然當時崩賜造不堪者小治田大宮治天下大王天皇及東宮聖王大命受賜而歲次丁卯年仕奉 "When the emperor who ruled the land from the Ikenobe Palace (Emperor Youmei) fell ill, in the year hinoe-uma (586? - According to the Nihon shoki, Emperor Youmei died not in 586 but in the following year. The Nihon shoki also gives a different account of the circumstances in which the temple was built and a Buddhist image made; see Sakamoto, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 160-61, or Aston, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 109-11. It had been pointed out [Outani daigaku, ed., Nihon kinseki zuroku, 'Kaisetsu', p. 19] that several terms in this Yakushi nyorai inscription did not come into use until later in the seventh century: the term translated in the above as 'sage prince' appears only to have been used as a posthumous cognomen for Prince Shoutoku, and characters twenty-five and twenty-six, nowadays read as tennou "emperor", only came into use after the Taika Reform of 645. One theory (ibid.) is that the inscription was added to the image some time after it had been made.) he summoned the empress and imperial prince, and made a vow that he would build a temple and a Yakushi nyorai image, as he wished to alleviate hsi illness. However, the emperor passed away at that time, and was unabel to proceed with his intentions. Since this was so, the empress who ruled the land from the Oharida Palace (Empress Suiko) and the sage prince of the Eastern Palace (Prince Shoutoku) undertook the wish of the deceased emperor, and had [a temple and Yakushi image] made in the year hinoto-u (607?)".

(pg 28) Individual hybrid texts tend typically to gravitate towards either a Chinese or a Japanese model, rather than a point approximately midway between the Chinese and Japanese styles. In the case of the Yakushi nyorai inscription under consideration here, treatment in terms of deviation from a Chinese model seems appropriate. When seen from this perspective, the main hybrid features of this text can be summed up as being a degree of Japanese-influenced word-order, and overt representation of Japanese elements. Examples of the former feature are as follows: 薬師像作 "make a Yakushi image" - this sequence reflects the Japanese syntactic order of object + verb (Chinese style would have 作薬師像); 造不堪 "not able to build" - the order of characters reflects the underlying Japanese construction, which has the element for "make first (cf. Chinese style 不堪造). As for the second general hybrid feature (overt representation of Japanese elements), the following examples may be given: 大御身 "body" - the first two characters are clearly used to represent a Japanese honorific prefix, probably compound in nature (so too for 大御病 "illness"); 勞賜 "be ill" - the second character (Ch.ci "bestow") appears to be employed here to represent a Japanese honorific verbal auxiliary (same for 誓願賜, 崩賜, 受賜) (the character 奉 appears here again too).

Bangulzai SG

japanese people are just another ethnic group to me

but according to some japanese people, they dont like this polite system....they tink it makes their cultural attitudes ultra fake

i just have a strange inkling that singapore is under a lot of japanese influence still (though some of my friends say shldnt be cuz of korean wave...)

There are two modes for the realization of the aspect of language use: wakimae (discernment) and volition.

Wakimae (discernment)

Wakimae (the closest equivalent term in English is discernment) refers to behaviour based on socially expected norms. In Japanese society, all speakers are expected to assess and acknowledge their sense of place in relation to both the situational context and the social context.
   This acknowledgment of one's sense of place in relation to the situational context involves the participants' interpersonal relationship and the formality of the situation. The interpersonal relationship is affected by the social and psychological distance between the participants. Various factors such as differecnes in age, status, and power and the degree of intimacy all play a role in determining social and psychological distance. The speaker's sense of belonging, which is realized as the categorization of the address/referent into uchi (in-group) or soto (out-group), also relates to social and psychological distance. This sense of belonging goes beyong formal group memberships, and the speaker recognized uchi or soto whether the addressee or referent belongs to an actual group such as a company or circle or not. In other words, uchi refers to a sense of a close relationship, as with people who belong, in some sense, to the same group, whereas soto refers to a sense of a more distant relationship. The speaker uses language to acknowledge both a sense of place in the situational setting, in concordance with the social and psychological distance between participants, as well as the formality of the situation.
   The speaker's acknowledgement of the sense of place in relation to society as a whole is reflected through self-presentation. People evaluate their place in society in terms of their age, status, role, gender, ethnicity, culture, and regional background. The speaker's self-presentation is related to a concern for demeanor. Through language use according to wakimae, the speakers are able to present themselves as well-demeaned persons in the society.
   Social convention requires that a speaker manifests an acknowledgement of this sense of place in relation to the situational context and the society through the choice of linguistic expressions. Wakimae in Japanese society means people's discernment of their own place.
   This behaviour according to wakimae can be considered polite behaviour for two reasons. One reason stems from the speaker's observation of the socially expected norms. This behaviour puts the addressee at ease, since it establishes that the speaker will not threaten the addressee. Furthermore, the obeservation of the common norm creates an atmosphere of sharedness with the address. Therefore, behaviour according to wakimae functions as a realization of politeness.

Volition

The seoncd mode of linguistic politeness is the volitional use of expressions. This can be described as the use of a strategy to achieve politeness. Speakers use strategies intentionally in order to allow their messages to be received favorably by the addressee. Unlike language use according to wakimae, language use according to volition allows the speaker's creative use of strategirs toward the addressee.
Language use according to volition forms the core of linguistic politeness, particular in Western societies. This perspective comes from the basic assumption in Western societies that speaking is the realization of the speaker's intention. Speech act theories (Austin 1962, Searle 1969, 1975) and conversational maxims (Grice 1975) are established on this tacit assumption, which we call here the speaker's volitional use of language. It is in this context that wakimae is proposed as the other type of speaking by Ide (1989). In contrast to the volitional use of language, wakimae is not determined by volition.
Studies of politeness from a western perspective discuss the strategies to achieve politeness assuming the speaker's volitional use of language. P. Brown and Levinson's (1978, 1987) illustrations in their framework are all from the category of volitional strategies of politeness. On the basis of the concept of face wants and the idea that all human beings share them, Brown and Levinson present two kind of politeness strategies: positive politeness and negative politeness strategirs. Positive face wants are those relating to the need for approval or the establishment of a cooperative relationship, and are addressed by positive politeness strategies. Negative face wants have to do with the need not to feel hindered, pressured, or coerced, and are addressed by negative politeness strategies. In addition to these two kinds of politeness strategties, the strategy of "off record" should also be counted as strategy of politeness. Speakers plan their language behaviour so as to realize their intention of maintaining the face of both participants. Thus, language use according to volition means the speaker can make an active choice of expressions from an almost unlimited range of possibilities to achieve the desired politeness.

The relationship between the two modes of politeness; wakimae and volition

Both language use according to wakimae and language use according to volition are modes of behaviour employed to achieve politeness. The speaker focuses on prescribed social norms in the former behaviour, but on the intention in the latter. While the goal is the same in both cases, the means to achieve it are different. Wakimae is oriented toward the need for acknowledgement of the positions or roles of all the participants as well as adherence to the prescribed norms of formality appropriate to the particular situation. Volition, on the other hand, is oriented toward the need to maintain the face of all the participants. ~(Sociolinguistics in Japan: Honorifics and Gender Differences Sachiko Ide and Megumi Yoshida pg 445 - 47)